December 19, 2015

Traveling On The Stream Of Time

2015 brought a long awaited vacation back to Europe. It took 10 years of working on my wife Barb to get her to agree to one last trip there. I had to promise her I would not pester her about going there again.

The Road Not Taken poem by Frost just came to mind.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

I spent 6 years in Germany as a young adult. I had fond memories of those years in Augsburg. They were before knee replacement and back fusion. The time was fairy tale like. I didn't have a care in the world and I idealized that very special time in my life.

Augsburg seemed very different than I remembered it from the 70s and
80s. Back then it was a large city but it still had that small town
charm. I couldn't find that charm on our visit this year. I had
planned for the last 2 days of my trip to be spent in Augsburg but i
opted for Garmisch and Gstadt instead.

I am from a town of 600 people
and Augsburg just seemed so cold and it lacked character. I guess that
is why the term "The Good Old Days" was coined. Everything seemed
better back then. Maybe it was because I was in my 20s and healthy and
wide eyed.

This vacation brought new memories and I reminisced about old times that didn't seem like they even happened to me. The new best memories were of Gstadt and the day at the waterfall in Austria.

The food was still excellent and that will never change. My favorite meal was on the balcony of our room in Gstadt that we picked up at the grocery store 5 minutes from or place.

This blog post is to all of the people I have met during my trek down the stream of time. Some are better to be left in my past and some are yet to be met. The future is unwritten.

Len...Kate an I enjoy all of your Great Photography, Articles, and Books. You are real talent...keep up the Good Work !We Wish You And Your Family A MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUSNEW YEAR! Kate,Wally,Samwise The Lab,and last but not least...Curly Last Chance Lambeau The Lab! HAVE A GOOD HOLIDAY SEASON!